Quote:
Originally Posted by The Batlord
^^^
On the one hand, I think you are giving WAY too much thought to Def Leppard's lyrics. They're dumb cause they're dumb, and they don't need any analysis. It's just fun music for fun times.
On the other, I find your over analysis endearing. If you were anyone else, I would call you pretentious, but you honestly seem to derive pleasure from giving this much thought to Def Leppard lyrics. After all, what pseudo intellectual tool would even bother to analyze Def Leppard in the first place. Please, don't ever change. |
Batlord, I have analyzed your analysis of my analysis, and I have concluded that your view is partly correct. Many Def Leppard lyrics *are* intended to create fun music for fun times. (You're also correct that I do derive pleasure from giving thought to Def Leppard lyrics.
)
Your post made me curious about Def Leppard's view of their own lyrics and music. I found what I feel is an excellent and amusing interview with Joe Elliott:
Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott Can’t Explain the Lyrics to “Pour Some Sugar on Me” | MTV Hive.
The interview shows that Def Leppard
were mostly trying to make fun songs for fun times...but they also had some serious songs, such as "From the Inside" about addiction. Joe Elliott also didn't want to
tell people the exact meanings of their lyrics: "That ruins the fun of it. It’s like playing hide and seek and telling them where you’re hiding. It’s pointless." They wanted people to use their imagination when interpreting lyrics. Isn't that nice?
Quote:
Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott Can’t Explain the Lyrics to “Pour Some Sugar on Me” | MTV Hive
Joe Elliott: As a music fan, I was always more interested in KISS than Dylan. With all due respect to Dylan, I just didn’t get it. 'The answer my friend is blowing in the wind?' That sounds great … for an adult. We were kids. We were listening to 'hubcap diamondstar halo.' Our audience was other kids like us who were like, 'I can’t do it, but you’re doing it for us. Give me something that takes my mind off my nine to five.' And that’s what we were.
If somebody digs deep enough on our albums, you get 'Gods of War' and 'White Lighting' and 'From the Inside,' which is about heroin addiction. We’ve got loads of songs where we talk about human emotions. But the only songs that people remember are 'Let’s get rocked.'
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Reading this Def Leppard interview, I
also learned (and this was even
more surprising to me than the fact that drummer Rick Allen has only one arm) that...
Def Leppard has two and a half vegans!!!
I never knew that Phil Collen and one-armed drummer Rick Allen are vegans, while Vivian Campbell is a "lactopescovegetarian" (he eats fish but no red meat). Joe Elliott comments about their backstage vegetarian cuisine: "Yeah. Rock and roll, right? [Laughs.] We’re born to be mild." <-- Cute.
Perhaps Phil Collen's vegetarianism provided a little inspiration for writing the song "Animal" back in the '80s. My view is that there are always reasons for something. We can't always identify the reasons, but I like to try.
* * *
Quote:
Originally Posted by sopsych
I thought the "Green eggs and ham" comment was funnier.
Yeah, analysis can go overboard, but at least sometimes good points come from it. For example, there's probably a general rule that mediocre lyrics cause musically solid songs to sound tiresome much faster than their better written counterparts. But at least "Animal" is more or less a big analogy, so it takes a while to become irritating, at least to me. And its harmonizing is very good. Def Leppard went downhill on Adrenalize arguably because some of the lyrics were too tongue-in-cheek (including "Make Love Like a Man" and the sometimes clever "Let's Get Rocked"). Or because the vocals weren't blended greatly on most of the tracks. I had no idea that Phil Collen played all the lead guitar on the album and that Vivien Campbell didn't play at all - that probably was part of the problem. Regardless, an act can only remain high on the charts for several albums if the music or lyrics evolve, which Def Leppard didn't do - and then couldn't do well, as Slang showed.
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Yes, "Animal" uses many metaphors relating to animals (circus, running wolf) to represent passion and desire. I don't find the lyrics irritating because they stretch my mind a little. My favorite line, though, is "such a lust for life" because that broadens the song's topic to more than just physical lust. The line makes me ask myself if it describes the singer or the person lusted after (I always assumed the latter). My point is that the lyrics at least make me think.
I also appreciate how the message of excitement is supported by the powerful, energized sound of the music. Def Leppard's sound from the '80s and early '90s was very distinctive to me. Joe Elliott writes, "We absolutely apply the science of rock in the recording studio to make our records sound massive and bombastic."
Your post made me realize I've never heard any of the songs off the "Slang" album or learned how Def Leppard changed their sound in the '90s. I listened to the song "Slang" and the starts of a few others off the album. They aren't bad but they didn't grip me as much as their earlier songs.
I also learned that Def Leppard consider themselves a "British rock band" and not heavy metal or a hair band. I thought you'd appreciate this quote, since it has to do with hair
:
Joe Elliott: "We’re rock. It’s a vast difference [from metal]. AC/DC are metal, Van Halen aren’t metal. And neither are they a hair band, but they’ve got hair. If it’s the difference between being a hair band and a bald band, yes, we’re a hair band. But musically, we’re a British rock band, end of story."
If it's the difference between being a hair band and a bald band, then they're a hair band!
I like these Def Leppard guys.